Facebook update adds new lockscreen option, Messenger Chat Heads to more devices

Updates to Facebook and Facebook Messenger tonight have brought out a new feature and new device support across the apps. First up is the Facebook app itself, which added a new lock screen option in the settings to show a Facebook Home-like lock screen with status updates from your friends without replacing your entire launcher with Home. To enable it, head to the Facebook app and hit the settings, then scroll down to "Use as Lock Screen" and give it a moment to enable.

The update also added official Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 support for Facebook Home, which users have been using pretty successfully unofficially for a while now. On the Messenger side, the app update added Chat Heads functionality for more devices —  presumably on the lower end as the update specifically named the Galaxy Y and HTC Wildfire.

We're seeing the Facebook app update on our devices while enrolled in the official beta program, but apparently the update is expected to roll to all users starting today. Grab an update to the Facebook app proper at the Play Store link above, or get the Messenger update here.

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How to spot and avoid Facebook 'Like' scams

Facebook "likes" mean money. Individuals and businesses of all types -- legitimate and otherwise -- use various techniques to persuade you to click that ubiquitous thumbs-up button.

Begging for Facebook "likes" has become epidemic. "If I get a million likes I'll be cured of my terminal disease and I'll be able to implement my sure-fire plan for world peace!"

"If you don't like this picture you hate your mother, America, and apple pie."

Yeah, right.

Scammers prey on Facebook users' propensity to respond emotionally by clicking "Like" when an image or plea tugs at their heart strings or piques their ire.

Scam sites offer to sell you likes clicked by real-live humans. The buyers intend to convert the clicks into traffic for their Facebook page, which translates to increased ad revenue. Several such sites I visited appear to be owned by the same anonymous party and are registered in Panama.

The Facebook Help Center states unequivocally that you cannot buy likes:

 Certain websites promise to provide large numbers of likes for your Page if you sign up and give them money. These websites typically use deceptive practices or are scams. People who like your Page this way will be less valuable to your Page because they won't necessarily have a genuine interest in what your Page is about. If Facebook's spam systems detect that your Page is connected to this type of activity, we'll place limits on your Page to prevent further violations of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

(Earlier this month,Jennifer Van Grove reported on the U.S. State Department's questionable attempt to generate "likes" for its Facebook pages.)

At the same time, Facebook allows developers to reward the people who like their pages. The company's Platform Policies site describes its referral-based rewards program for tying in-app rewards to its Social Channels.

For example, users can't be rewarded for sending invitations to their friends, but they can be rewarded based on the number of their friends who accept such invitations. Also, people who like a page can be given coupons, rebates, exclusive content, a chance at a promotion, or the ability to donate to a charity. The only caveat is that the bonus be available to all users, not just new ones.

Pepsi recently offered attendees at a Beyonce concert in Antwerp a free drink in exchange for liking the company on Facebook, as Mashable's Todd Wasserman describes.

Facebook "fan" pages are bought and sold. Buyers are promised access to hundreds of thousands of "friends." Last May, Becky Worley reported on the Yahoo News site that a Facebook page followed by 500,000 hamburger fans was offered for sale at an asking price of $5,000, while another for cuddling aficionados was listed at $7,000.

One popular Facebook scam is a variation on the old "download the player" ploy. You're checking out your Facebook news feed when a post appears that says simply "You gotta see this!"

Oh, no you don't. You click the link only to be informed via a pop-up window that you need to install a media player to view the video. Of course, the download is actually malware that infects your system, steals your data, and uses your account to send out even more virus-bearing spam.

What happens when you click the 'Like' button

According to the Facebook Help Center, when you click "Like" or "Recommend," a story appears on your timeline, ticker, and/or news feed.

Another Facebook help page explains that when you click "Like" on a Facebook Page, in an advertisement, or on a page outside Facebook, "[y]ou may be displayed on the Page you connected to, in advertisements about that Page or in social plugins next to the content you like."

You may also receive updates and messages from Pages you like, and the connection might be shared with apps on the Facebook Platform.

To unlike a page, hover the cursor over the page's Like button and select Unlike on the menu that appears, or simply select the blue Liked icon.

Clicking the Like button can be revealing

Facebook loves it when you share. It is a social network after all. As with much of the information you volunteer to Web sites, what you like on Facebook may disclose more about yourself than you realize.

As reported last March by the Guardian's Josh Halliday, researchers at Cambridge University who studied the "public" likes clicked by 58,000 Facebook users were able to discern their IQ, emotional stability, sexuality, and other personality traits with a high level of accuracy, without knowing anything else about the people.

The complete study is published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences site.

Strauss compares the failure to generate likes for an item to a comedian's joke that is met with silence. Just as the comedian is unlikely to repeat that joke, the person posting an item that generates no likes may be disinclined to post similar items in the future.The act of liking an article, post, or other item influences the future. Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal's Neil Strauss decried the tyranny of the Like button and its cohorts the +1, tweet, and StumbleUpon, pointing out that we judge content based on the number of likes it has received.

According to the Wisemetrics blog, the Like count that appears above items doesn't represent the number people who have clicked the button for that item. The number includes the times the URL has been shared whether or not the sharer clicked "Like," as well as the number of Facebook comments about the item.

On the lookout for Facebook hoaxes

Facebook scams proliferate so quickly it can be difficult to keep up with them. The Hoax-Slayer site provides an overview of like-farming scams as well as a compendium of Facebook-related scams reported as recently as today and dating back more than three years.

In a post from last October on his DaylanDoes blog, Daylan Pearce described the mechanics of several Facebook Like scams. The Facecrooks site maintains a list of Facebook-related scams, including a revival of the old chestnut that promises to reveal who viewed your profile. As the Facebook Help Center explains, the service doesn't let you track who views your timeline or posts, nor does it allow third-party apps to do so.

Several sophisticated Facebook hoaxes were revealed by Digital Trends' Francis Bea in a post from last May. One of the trickiest is a notice purporting to be from Facebook instructing you to log into your account to re-activate it.

Last March, Steven Musil described a scam that promised free iPad Minis and other expensive personal electronics in exchange for Facebook likes. If you spot a Facebook-related scam, you can report it by clicking the Report link that appears near it. The Facebook Help Center provides information for reporting all types of abusive content.

At this point, you may be wondering whether you should "Like" this post. After having written close to 600 separate items for this blog since 2007, I know certain topics generate more likes than others. It's no surprise that posts relating to Facebook, Twitter, or another social network are shared more frequently than items about Windows or Microsoft Office, for example. If I chose my topics based solely on sharing frequency, this would be the Facebook and iPad Blog.

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Facebook launches app for Google Glass

Facebook on Thursday launched a version of its app for Google Glass, becoming the latest technology company to release software for the computing eyewear.

The app allows users to upload photos from Google Glass directly to their Facebook timelines. They can also add optional photo descriptions, just by saying the information out loud.

Facebook's Erick Tseng said in a blog post that the move Thursday "is only a first step."

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Facebook to put own spin on Android with 'new home,' report says

A Facebook media event invitation the company released last week might be saying more than originally thought.

Last week, Facebook sent out an invite for an event it's hosting on Thursday. On the invitation, the company says, "Come See Our New Home on Android." Other than making clear that it the event will be Android related, the company provided no additional details.

However, the invitation's message might be coded to include the name of a new product the company has been working on, called Facebook Home, Google news site 9to5Google reported, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its plans. Facebook, the site's sources say, has been working on a version of the Android mobile operating system that will run on HTC devices and will put upfront Facebook's many features and apps, including messaging, photos, and contacts. The project is called Facebook Home, according to 9to5Google, thus the mention of the company's "New Home on Android."

The sources that 9to5Google is in touch with did not say exactly what will be shown at the event, but they expect Facebook to detail how its operating system, which is built on top of Android, actually works. So far, no carriers have signed on to carry the devices, 9to5 Google reported, but both Facebook and HTC are in talks to change that. Facebook and HTC will also launch an ad campaign to promote Home, the news site said.

Android Police reports that it's seen screenshots and a system dump, which it says shows "a mid-range HTC phone codenamed 'Myst'...[that] sounds a lot like the previously-leaked HTC Opera from last November, too, which was also billed as the alleged 'Facebook phone.'"

Among the most interesting findings, Android Police writes, are some permissions spotted in the code:

 These allow Facebook to read the settings for the stock Android launcher, the HTC launcher, and the Touchwiz Launcher. Having permissions for Touchwiz on an HTC phone is a dead giveaway that Facebook plans on releasing Facebook Home not just on this phone, but as a standalone app in the Play Store.

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Android-forked Facebook phone coming on April 4 during special media event?

Facebook will host a new special media event on April 4 during which it will show the world its “new home on Android.” While the announcement is rather cryptic by itself, we can’t but think ofthat HTC Myst handset that’s reportedly being built for Facebook.
This wouldn’t be the first Facebook smartphone, but unlike the HTC ChaCha and Salsa that preceded it, this HTC device could run a new Android OS fork specially designed by Facebook:

This will be a deeper, forked version of Android rather than a Facebook-ified version of Sense.

The mythical Facebook phone has been rumored for quite some time now, but every time it had to answer about its mobile plans, the social network denied that it’s working on such a product. Considering that Facebook is present on probably all smartphones out there, no matter what platform they’d use, having a Facebook phone in shops doesn’t sound like a necessity, but it looks like that’s the way Facebook is heading.
Not to mention that Facebook has its own, photo, calling and messaging apps that could further help users stay within Facebook when using their current smartphones. But that may not be enough for the social giant that wants to meet the profit demands of its investors.
From a different point of view, Facebook seems more and more interested in taking on Google in different other niches, mobile included. Google hit Facebook with Google+, and now Facebook seems ready to be hitting back with its first steps in search but also smartphones. And like Amazon, instead of designing a new OS from the ground up, it could simply fork Android into something that suits its needs. Obviously, the forked Android OS will integrate Facebook’s mobile apps, but it will be interesting to see what kind of app store access the device will have to offer.
Remember though that we’re just speculating at this point, using the available information about Facebook existing products, as we have no solid information on what’s coming in just a few days.

One report does say that Facebook and HTC are actively working on an ad campaign to promote the new product. Instead of focusing on its hardware or software, the companies are rather targeting the user directly, as 9to5 Google notes.

According to people familiar with the development of the marketing campaign for the Facebook/HTC phone, the advertisements are designed to focus on the potential user of the device, not on the hardware or software. As a nod to this phone being a much expanded version of the Facebook application found on iOS and standard Android devices, one of the tag-lines for the device is “more than just an app”.

We have no details on actual hardware features, but the device is said to be “competitive with the current mobile device landscape,” and sources that had access to the device describe it as an iPhone-like handset complete with Home button at the center flacked by “horizontal function keys.” Previous rumors say that the device could sport a 4.3-inch display, but the publication says the handset will be “about the size of an iPhone 5,” thus featuring a 4-inch display.
Other rumored specs for the handset, also presented in older articles, include a 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 5-megapixel camera and 1.6-megapixel front-facing shooter.
Pricing and launch details aren’t available at this time, but Facebook and HTC are said to be in negotiations with at least a couple of carriers. Is AT&T one of them? If recent FCC documents are to be believed, and the HTC Myst is indeed the Facebook phone, then we could see the carrier launch a Facebook phone later this year.
We’ll thoroughly cover the April 4 Facebook events for you, at which point we’ll have more answers for your questions. Meanwhile, let us know whether you’d be interested in such a Facebook phone, or you’d rather stick with actual Android.

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Facebook Messenger free calls now available outside of US and UK, too

 

Facebook made quite some buzz when it quietly launched free calling through the Facebook Messenger app for iOS and Android. While initially available in the US and Canada, Facebook recently rolled out voice calling in the UK, too, with promise to launch in more countries. If you’re living elsewhere, you would be pleased to learn that Facebook Messenger calling is being rolled out to other countries, as well.
This came as a pleasant surprise while I was chatting with a friend last night. I saw the “free call” button and I know just what it meant. The option can be accessed by pressing the “i” button to get more information about your Facebook contact. The app will tell you if that contact can be reached via voice call, or if the person is not reachable via VoIP. This is indicated by either a greyed-out button or one with a slashed-out phone icon. “Your friend can’t receive calls right now,” it will say. This means your contact is not using the Facebook Messenger app on iOS or Android, or the contact is currently not connected.
Facebook Messenger places calls either through WiFi or your data plan, so it also warns you that it might consume your data plan and you might incur costs if you go over your allocation or if you’re on a pay-as-you-go service. Also, you can only call friends who are also using the Facebook Messenger app and not the full Facebook app itself. There’s no need to update the Facebook Messenger app, as the feature is activated on the server — unless you have a very old version.
Interestingly enough, Facebook has partnered with several providers around the world — especially in emerging markets — to offer free connectivity via Facebook Messenger. I wonder how this would pan out, especially given that the free Facebook messages and calls might eat into these carriers’ regular SMS and voice revenue. I also wonder if this works for international calls, as well, which would be the ideal scenario, given that VoIP players like Skype, Google Talk, Viber and a host of other messaging services, don’t limit calling to within specific locales. Does this signal the end of telephony as we know it? Is this the Facebook “phone” that everyone had been predicting for the past few years?
If you haven’t tried out Facebook Messenger yet, it’s available via Google Play and the iTunes App Store. Facebook has not quite made an announcement yet, but do expect calling functionality to roll out in your locale soon, if it’s not already active.

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Facebook releases updated Android app to Google Play

A new Facebook update has now hit the Google Play Store, bringing with it the ability to change profile pictures from within the app. Additionally, it is now easier to manage unwanted stories and spam from within the News Feed. Outside of these two changes, Facebook also made improvements that make it easy to start a group message with fewer taps and less hassle.

As you can see, nothing truly ground-breaking was introduced with this update, though Facebook is changing up the way it launches updates. Even though this update is just now hitting Google Play, some users have had it since Friday.

How does that work exactly? Apparently Facebook has a new beta program that is designed to push out updates to beta testers. The method works silently in the background, outside of Google Play. This gives testers a chance to provide feedback before the update hits a wider range of users via Google Play.

According to Facebook, the silent update feature will be used for testers going forward as a way to make sure that new updates work as they should. It is actually seems like a pretty wise move, as it gives a few willing volunteers early access to updates and at the same time means Facebook can discover bugs and other problems before updates launch. Beyond volunteer testers, Facebook doesn’t seem interested in using this silent update method to replace normal Google Play delivery.

What do you think of the idea of the changes in this new update? Additionally, what do you think of the new silent update method for Google Play testers?

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Airport posts Facebook pic of crash to boast about safety

The beauty -- and the challenge -- of Facebook is to keep people engaged.

You know, excited, amused, enthralled, and fascinated.

One way of doing this is to post a picture of a plane crash in which a child died.

No, that is not a professional recommendation. That's what one enthusiastic member of the support team at England's Luton Airport thought would be a perfect marketing wheeze.

I wasn't aware that airports could be so confident in asserting perfect safety.Indeed, the image of a plane that crashed at Chicago's Midway airport was accompanied with the sensitive caption: "Because we are such a super airport... this is what we prevent you from when it snows... Weeeee :)."

Especially Luton, which is a smallish airport to the north of London from which pasty British travelers often fly to sunnier climes on very cheap flights.

Still, it seems that certain members of the public thought this wasn't quite the best form of socially networked boasting.

As the BBC reports, the airport removed the boasting posting and described it as "wholly unacceptable and irresponsible."

You might imagine that this irresponsibility was perpetrated by a young, hairy -- and possibly male -- intern, eager to show his social-media skills and sense of humor.

I cannot confirm more than my suspicions.

For the airport merely told the BBC: "In this instance a new, overenthusiastic member of our support team made an honest but misguided mistake and clearly stepped over the line."

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Facebook hashtags will soon be official, according to Wall Street Journal report

 

Some day, people will remember Facebook as the social networking giant that it is today, and they will say, “Remember when hashtags on Facebook were not a thing? Yeah, those were the days.”
It hasn’t happened yet, but Facebook will indeed introduce hashtags as a feature that its users can use — and possibly abuse — if a recently published report on the Wall Street Journal is to be believed. Apparently, Facebook is currently looking into incorporating hashtags as its battle with microblogging site Twitter rages on.
According to sources cited in the above-mentioned report on the WSJ, Facebook hashtags are currently in the testing phase. And much like the original, Twitter-based counterpart, Facebook hashtags will be used to group similar content on the same topics.
Even now, Facebook users are already using hashtags, despite the fact that they don’t really do anything at all. Except maybe make short, indirect, and “witty” statements that could otherwise only be shared via typing out complete sentences. If Facebook does indeed decide to finally add hashtags as a feature at some point in the future, then it would perhaps be put to much better use by Facebook users.
At the moment, the hashtag-as-a-way-of-grouping-content feature only really works with its originator, Twitter, as well as online photo sharing site Instagram, which Facebook famouslybought for $1 billion back in April 2012.

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Well-liked: Zuckerberg tops employee-driven CEO rankings

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at TechCrunch Disrupt last September.

Lots of CEOs make the news for being gruff, domineering, or brilliant, but oftentimes their employees have different impressions. Every year, careers site Glassdoor surveys hundreds of thousands of employees across all industries and then publishes its rankings of the 50 highest rated CEOs (see list below).

And, for 2013, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg took the top honor.

Despite shareholder lawsuits over its botched IPO and mixed reaction to Timeline and Graph Search, the social network's employees gave Zuckerberg a 99 percent approval rating over the past 12 months, which ended February 24. This is up 14 percentage points from last year.

A Facebook employee told Glassdoor that Facebook has "an open community from Zuck on down" and that there is "mutual trust companywide and sense of community and drive, instilled by our CEO who we all truly respect."

Twenty tech CEOs made the top 50 list this year, starting with SAP's Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe sacking 2nd place. Also on the list were Qualcomm's Paul Jacobs in 8th place, Google's Larry Page in 11th place, Salesforce's Marc Benioff in 13th place, Amazon's Jeff Bezos in 16th place, Oracle's Larry Ellison in 46th place, Dell's Michael Dell in 49th place, and more.

Apple's Tim Cook was voted the top CEO last year with a 97 percent approval rating. Cook still made the list this year, but he dropped to the 18th spot with a 93 percent approval rating.

While women are making more of a splash in the tech world as of late, no female tech CEO made the list this year. HP's Meg Whitmanmade the list last year but her approval rating fell by one percentage point this year to 79 percent and she wasn't able to crack the top 50. Yahoo's Marissa Mayer received an 87 percent approval rating, but she didn't make top 50 because too few employees reviewed her to make Glassdoor's list.

While Glassdoor's list is a survey, it's voluntary rather than scientific. The figures come from employees who actively go to Glassdoor's site to rate their companies and bosses. Glassdoor says that this top 50 CEOs report only includes CEOs who received at least 100 employee ratings over the past year. Overall, more than 500,000 employees rated their CEO on Glassdoor over the past 12 months. The average CEO approval rating on Glassdoor for all CEOs is 68 percent.

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SPECS PURPORTEDLY LEAK FOR HTC’S UPCOMING ‘FACEBOOK PHONE,’ THE HTC MYST

Does the world really want a “Facebook (FB) Phone?” Probably not, but that apparently isn’t going to stop HTC (2498) from delivering one.UnwiredView’s evleaks has posted a set of specifications that are purportedly for the HTC Myst, a yet-to-be-announced smartphone that is centered around Facebook. In case you don’t remember, HTC has tried something like this back in 2011 with the ill-fated HTC Status smartphone that had a dedicated Facebook button and that looked like a rejected BlackBerry (BBRY) design concept from around 2006. The HTC Myst will reportedly be somewhat more like a modern smartphone, however, with a 4.3-inch touch display with a resolution of 320 pixels per inch, a MSM8960 dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera. While these aren’t exactly high-end specs, it’s unlikely that HTC is going to push the Myst as a premium device, especially since it sold the HTC Status for a mere $50 with a two-year agreement from AT&T (T).

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Fake Facebook pages promise free gifts in exchange for 'Likes'

A new hoax is making the rounds on Facebook, promising to give away expensive personal electronics items in exchange for a simple "Like."

One of the earliest examples of this hoax popped up a couple of days ago, inviting Facebook users to "Like" a page for a chance to be randomly picked to receive high-end headphones from Beats Electronics that allegedly couldn't be sold because they had been unsealed. Here is the text of the fake promotion:

 We have got 1,239 boxes of Dre Beats and 250 Monster Beats By Dr Dre Studio Limited Edition that can't be sold because they have been unsealed. Therefore we are giving them away for free.

Want a pair? Just Share this photo & Like our page and we will choose 1,239 people completely at random on March 15th.

A spokesperson for Beats Electronics, the company founded by hip-hop producer Dr Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine, told CNET it is not affiliated with the fake offer and has contacted Facebook to have the page removed.

An apparently fake promotion that hasn't disappeared yet is one for dozens of Apple tablets on an official-looking Facebook page that identifies itself as "Apple" and includes a banner with images of Apple products. This is its fake offer:

 We have got 82 boxes of iPad Mini's [sic] that can't be sold because they have been unsealed. Therefore we are giving them away for free.

Just Share this photo & Like our page and we will choose 82 people completely at random on March 17th.

Good luck!

The page already has nearly 47,000 "Likes" by people apparently unaware that Apple sells plenty of refurbished hardware, making such a giveaway unnecessary and unlikely. Apple, which has a legitimate Facebook page with nearly 9 million "Likes," has been contacted for comment and we will update this report when we learn more.

Anti-scam site Wafflesatnoon, which first reported on the hoax, theorizes that the fake promotions are part of a scam to falsely inflate fan numbers for pages, which are then sold and renamed with all traces of the fake promotion removed.

Facebook's terms of service prohibit impostor accounts that are created to imitate real people, as well as the posting of content that violates another party's intellectual property rights. Presumably, this prohibition extends to companies as well, but CNET has also contacted Facebook for comment.

Hoaxes are not unheard of on the social-networking giant, often generating a lot of user "Likes" before being revealed as fakes. Last December, a software engineer from Mesa, Ariz., posted a photo of himself with what he claimed was a winning Powerball lottery ticket. More than 2 million people clicked "Like" for a chance to win $1 million before it was proven a hoax.

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Facebook Beefs Up With Acqhire Of Storylane Because It’s Time To Fight Tumblr

Facebook’s no blogging platform, but Tumblr is and it’s eating the social network’s young. If Facebook wants to host our digital lives, it needs richer sharing. That’s Storylane’s specialty, so Facebook’s acqhire of its team sounds like a smart staff-up. The startup’s Chief Executive Story Teller Jonathan Gheller and crew could convince us to share our quick memes and long opinions on Facebook.

You see the kids, they love Tumblr. Internet savvy folks do, too. Customization, big images, animated GIFs, and the option to write something longer if necessary. It all makes Facebook’s status update box seem a bit confining. Timeline may your life history, but most people don’t splay their scrapbook all over their coffee table. Facebook needs a better home for people who care a little bit more about what and how they share.

Wait wait wait. What about Facebook Notes? Well, when was the last time you saw someone share a note? That’s because Facebook buried them when it switched to Timeline 18 months ago and the product has been growing moldy in the dark ever since.

Storylane and Gheller could bring fresh life to Facebook’s blogging intentions. Storylane launchedin October 2012, and our own Anthony Ha’s coverage explains that Gheller wanted it to be “the home for personal thoughts and stories that go deeper than a quick Facebook or Twitter update.” It’s great place for memories, poetry, and personal manifestos. Storylane would even try to inspire you with prompts like “What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?” or “What hobbies do you enjoy the most?”

You know who else started trying to creatively (or creepily) prompt you to share? Facebook. “How are you feeling, Josh?”, “What did you learn today?”, “What’s your favorite Halloween memory?”. No wonder Gheller and his four employees were keen to join forces with Facebook, who’s picking up just Storylane’s talent, not its product or data.

Tumblr’s success won’t be easy to create inside Facebook’s walled garden. Most Tumblr posts are public and it’s heavy on re-blogging — both which are not Facebook’s forte. It’s also about sharing to people who want to subscribe specifically to your blog or come find you, not about blasting posts to everyone you’ve ever met. Facebook and the Storylaners (terrible band name) would need to find the right distribution scheme for Facebook blog posts.

If it can make it work, though, it’d add a powerful publishing style to its repertoire. And it could win back some of the youth it admits are slipping elsewhere.

First thing’s first, Facebook has to start rendering animated GIFs. The Tumblr kids (and adults) can’t get enough of ‘em.

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MessageMe: more than just another instant messaging app?

Just in time for SXSW this year, a Valley-based startup has launched MessageMe, which is an instant messaging app for Android and iOS platforms. We might be tempted to say it’s yet another instant messaging app for mobile devices, trying to carve its share from under Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Viber and the like. But I’ve taken MessageMe for a spin, and I can say I like the app, which lives up to its promises.

In gist, here are some of the things I like about MessageMe:

• Doodles – kids love ‘em. The artist (or prankster) in you might, too.
• Fast, lightweight – won’t eat up all your phone’s resources just sitting idle.
• Simultaneous logins – you can run it on several devices at the same time, be it Android or iOS based

MessageMe promises to be a simple app that focuses on context. Just like popular regional messaging apps like Japan’s LINE and South Korean Kakao Talk, MessageMe offers rich multimedia content, such as pictures, videos, songs and audio recordings. But what makes it more fun is its inclusion of Doodles — that small applet that lets you pass around sketches either to a single correspondent or a group of friends. You can even doodle on existing pictures – perfect for adding that mustache or glasses to your unwitting subject.

MessageMe was built by a team of experienced social media app developers, led by Arjun Sethi, who is a veteran of Tapjoy and about.me, among other startup companies. I did a quick interview with Arjun — over MessageMe, of course — where I got to pick his brains on his opinions about the supposedly crowded IM space, developing for iOS vs. Android, and their business model.

Is the market for mobile messaging apps already saturated?

Basically, Arjun says he doesn’t believe the mobile messaging app space is saturated, especially in North America, South America and Europe. While bigger competitors likeFacebook Messenger theoretically have a captured audience (1 billion users on Facebo0k), MessageMe competes on a couple of advantages: speed and context. Meanwhile, in Asia, the likes of WeChat (300 million users), LINE (100 million) and Kakao Talk (70 million) are dominant, although MessageMe still has something unique to offer.

MessageMe promises to be lightweight and not eat up too much of your smartphone’s resources, which can be very important in maintaining a smooth user experience. But the app’s more important focus is context. “Our team’s core principle is to adhere to the media in which people communicate, and bringing those contexts more naturally into a 1:1 or group conversation.”

This is done by incorporating sensory elements, which is accomplished by the user linking YouTube videos or music tracks, adding photos, sending voice clips and exchanging doodles. Again, the focus is on context.

iOS vs. Android: the developer’s perspective

Developing for Android and iOS each has their own nuances, Arjun admits. “We had to tailor our design and development not just for the platforms, but for the type of devices customers would use and the carriers under which they would operate. Android has more ‘hedge’ cases. iOS is a bit more straightforward because it has many standards and policies laid out.” In a way, building for iOS might be easier, given that you are only writing code for a limited set of devices. On Android, you have to consider a wider variety of screen sizes, processing capability and the like.

MessageMe doesn’t currently have a business model yet, although the company is venture-funded. Arjun admits that the “focused on customer experience and growth at this time.” It’s sure that they won’ be running advertisement on the platform any time in the future. And while BlackBerry ad Windows platforms are being considered in future builds, right now the’re sticking with Android and iOS. “We’ll decide over time as we work on the customer experience on iOS and Android.”

Stickers, mobile payments

However, there are currently greyed-out “stickers” and “money” buttons, which means MessageMe might soon let users exchange free and premium stickers. These are quite popular in some markets like Asia, where IM services earn millions of dollars per month from stickers and premium games. And if you’ve heard about BlackBerry opening its BBM Money in some markets, an IM-based payment system might be a game changer in doing small transactions like splitting the bill, paying at the checkout counter or paying for freelance services.

MessageMe connects with friends through Facebook authorization, and friends can also be added through either email address or a unique PIN that the app will generate for each user. The app is a free download from the Google Play Store (and also the iTunes App Store for iOS devices). You can also head on to msg.me and click the “download app” link, which leads you to either iTunes or Google Play downloads, depending on your device.

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Facebook Beefs Up With Acqhire Of Storylane Because It’s Time To Fight Tumblr

Facebook’s no blogging platform, but Tumblr is and it’s eating the social network’s young. If Facebook wants to host our digital lives, it needs richer sharing. That’s Storylane’s specialty, so Facebook’s acqhire of its team sounds like a smart staff-up. The startup’s Chief Executive Story Teller Jonathan Gheller and crew could convince us to share our quick memes and long opinions on Facebook.

You see the kids, they love Tumblr. Internet savvy folks do, too. Customization, big images, animated GIFs, and the option to write something longer if necessary. It all makes Facebook’s status update box seem a bit confining. Timeline may your life history, but most people don’t splay their scrapbook all over their coffee table. Facebook needs a better home for people who care a little bit more about what and how they share.

Wait wait wait. What about Facebook Notes? Well, when was the last time you saw someone share a note? That’s because Facebook buried them when it switched to Timeline 18 months ago and the product has been growing moldy in the dark ever since.

Storylane and Gheller could bring fresh life to Facebook’s blogging intentions. Storylane launchedin October 2012, and our own Anthony Ha’s coverage explains that Gheller wanted it to be “the home for personal thoughts and stories that go deeper than a quick Facebook or Twitter update.” It’s great place for memories, poetry, and personal manifestos. Storylane would even try to inspire you with prompts like “What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?” or “What hobbies do you enjoy the most?”

You know who else started trying to creatively (or creepily) prompt you to share? Facebook. “How are you feeling, Josh?”, “What did you learn today?”, “What’s your favorite Halloween memory?”. No wonder Gheller and his four employees were keen to join forces with Facebook, who’s picking up just Storylane’s talent, not its product or data.

Tumblr’s success won’t be easy to create inside Facebook’s walled garden. Most Tumblr posts are public and it’s heavy on re-blogging — both which are not Facebook’s forte. It’s also about sharing to people who want to subscribe specifically to your blog or come find you, not about blasting posts to everyone you’ve ever met. Facebook and the Storylaners (terrible band name) would need to find the right distribution scheme for Facebook blog posts.

If it can make it work, though, it’d add a powerful publishing style to its repertoire. And it could win back some of the youth it admits are slipping elsewhere.

First thing’s first, Facebook has to start rendering animated GIFs. The Tumblr kids (and adults) can’t get enough of ‘em.

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Facebook acquires blogging site Storylane

Facebook has acquired the team behind storytelling platform Storylane, a blogging site akin to the likes of the slower-paced Medium.

Storylane founder Jonathan Gheller posted the news to the site today, assuring Storylane members that Facebook isn't buying any of the site's user-generated content:

This is an exciting opportunity. Facebook's mission of connecting the world has always been at the center of our work, and like our friends at Facebook, meaningful connections are what our team is most passionate about.

The beautiful stories you have decided to share with us are yours to keep and share in however way you want. We are building tools that will help you migrate the content to other services if you so desire. I will be in touch with you about those specific tools later, but I can confirm that Facebook is not acquiring any of your data; and we're working to make sure you can migrate your content in a manageable way.

News of this comes the day after Facebook unveiled its new News Feed, which Facebook says was redesigned to focus on the content to build the product into a "personalized newspaper" for each user.

It sounds like the Storylane team could help users build some of that content. The publishing platform showcases a lot of stream of consciousness-type entries -- a hodgepodge of questions, advice, reflections, and photos.

Storylane launched just last October. Both Yahoo and Facebook were interested in acquiring the company, according to GigaOm.

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Get started with Facebook's revamped News Feed

Though it's fully expected that Facebook will make many changes to its just-launched News Feed, it's never too early to get acquainted with the look. Luckily, it's not quite as drastic as previous redesigns (like the much-hated Timeline) but it does present some new ways to interact with friends, brands, and people you follow.

If you haven't yet signed up to get the new News Feed, get on the wait list now. Facebook says it will roll out the new design slowly to allow enough time to fix bugs and make improvements before releasing it to the masses.

Until then, get to know some of the stand-out features of the revamped News Feed.

Topical feeds

For the most part, the previous News Feed only lets you navigate stories in two ways: "most recent" and "top stories." Now there are literally dozens of ways to view the latest stories from friends and people you follow. By default, you'll see the "News Feed" when you sign in, but on the far right, you can choose from more primary feeds like:

• All Friends. Here's where you'll see everything your friends are sharing. Status updates, check-ins, music listening, and more all appear here. You won't see brand or celebs here -- this is a feed dedicated to the people you're actually friends with (at least on Facebook.)
• Photos. No links, no statuses -- this feed only displays photos from friends and pages you follow. On the right, you'll see a sidebar with stories about new profile pictures and cover photos, and below that, Facebook will nag you to add more information about albums and photos you've uploaded.
• Music. Through apps like Spotify and pages you've liked, Facebook seems to have a pretty good idea about what kind of music you like. This feed exclusively shows posts related to music friends are listening to, and artists you like. And don't miss the sidebar on the right -- it's filled with useful information like upcoming concerts, top songs from your network, and new album releases.
• Following. Watch out, Twitter, Facebook's got its own follow culture now. In the Following feed, you won't see updates from friends -- this feed is filled with posts from people and brands you follow.

Those are just a handful of the feeds to choose from -- if you click "See all," you'll see even more feeds based on lists you've created. You can add or remove these feeds by editing your lists.

If you'd like one of the above feeds to be your default, there's no setting to change that, but there is a dead-simple workaround: navigate to an alternate feed, like All Friends, and bookmark that page. It's not ideal, but it should tide you over until Facebook offers its own solution.

One topic, many voices

The redesigned feed comes closest to eliminating some of the clutter that has recently made Facebook an eye sore. One of the ways it manages this is by consolidating many posts about one story and collapsing them into one post.

For example, instead of seeing three posts from friends sharing the same link, you'll see one. Or, if you subscribe to a list (like Tech News, below), you'll see one main story from that list, and the ability to navigate others by selecting from the thumbnails on the left.

Friend management options

Most likely, the redesigned feed will make you realize you should prune your Facebook "friends." Unlike the Top News feed from the previous iteration, niche feeds like All Friends and Photos show posts from all your friends, not just people Facebook thinks you're interested in.

There are a few ways to see less posts from a friend. Within any feed, hover over your friend's name. Then, hover over the "Friends" button on the box that shows up. Here, you can uncheck "Show in News Feed," or unfriend them entirely.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

Another option is to hide a specific post, like an inappropriate or otherwise annoying photo that keeps appearing in your feeds. Just hover over the upper-right corner of any post, and select hide. In theory, this should prevent that post from showing up in all the feeds, but (at least for me), that doesn't seem to be working.

New settings

For the first time ever, it's probably safe to say that Facebook's announcement didn't scare its users with privacy concerns. Although no privacy settings have changed, there are a couple options to look out for in the new design.

Switch to Old Design. If at any point you decide that the new News Feed is too glitchy, too much information, or otherwise undesireable, you can switch back to the old design. Just click on the arrow in the upper-right corner of any page, and select "Switch to Old Design."

Most likely, this option will continue to be available while the new design is in beta, but will eventually disappear.

Privacy Settings. A few months ago, Facebook introduced more simplified privacy options. These options haven't changed, but they're no longer accessed alongside your notifications. You can now access your privacy settings from the left sidebar, right next to your name.

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